Posts by detective

76

Objectivity and This Site

by Eutapro in

jw
friends

i must say that as a neutral scientific observer of this site--it seems that things are kind of one-sided here.

i thought this was a board with both devout jws and ex-jws on it.

on further reflection it appears that this medium of communication should probably be called ex-jw.com.

detective

Eu,
You tend to speak in generalities. This can't be particularly "neutral" nor "scientific", now can it?

Obviously there are a variety of different personalities and opinions here. Aren't you afraid that using bizarre generalities will hinder your scientific process?

Why not focus your statements to better enable conversation? Why don't you get specific and see where that brings you in your pursuit of knowledge?

For example, you could address a specific concern like "why do Ex-jws consider the watchtower a cult?"

By the way, I'm not an ex-jw.

13

Classic Conditioning?

by Eutapro in

jw
friends

yours truly is a student studying classical conditioning and the role it plays in the life of ex-jws.

do you think that cc works both ways?

could ex-jws leave the organization because the world (as jw teach) negatively conditioned them?

detective

This has definitely got to be one of the most transparent ruses offered up on this site in awhile.

Here's what I'm thinking:

You may well be "studying classic conditioning" but you have another agenda as well. You obviously have a link to witnesses that you don't feel like revealing at the moment. You were either raised in, studied it, are active in it or have family that is.

Assuming you are legitimately interested in the thoughts of ex-cult members, are you focusing entirely on witnesses and if so, why? Are you exploring other high-control groups? Is this a sociology project or a psychology project for you? Is this for your own personal benefit or for schooling?

I just find it interesting that a scientist-type seems to take the tone that life in a high-control group (cult) is normal and those leaving it abnormal.

76

Objectivity and This Site

by Eutapro in

jw
friends

i must say that as a neutral scientific observer of this site--it seems that things are kind of one-sided here.

i thought this was a board with both devout jws and ex-jws on it.

on further reflection it appears that this medium of communication should probably be called ex-jw.com.

detective

A scientific observer? Mmmmm. Okay.

If you have time, please check out this site www.purelanguage.net and let me know if you think it's biased or not.

For that matter, do you think Watchtower magazines are unbiased?

Hmmmmmm.

11

New form of field service for pedophiles?

by RationalWitness in

jw
friends

anyone know if this is a new form of field service for pedophiles?

(from http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/3289185.htm).

man accused of stripping after chat with children.

detective

Ummm...
I can't be the only person here who has ever worked with mentally ill people! I've encountered my share of people who have randomly stripped down at completely inappropriate times and in inappropriate locations, often with a degree of embarassment once they've become coherent.

We'd better be sure that we are keeping possibilities open on this situation as we don't know much about it. Could he be a pedophile? I don't know. Could he be mentally ill and not be a sexual predator? I don't know. Is this guy even a Jehovah's Witness? I don't know.

Let's avoid jumping to any conclusions on this one. The reason I'm suspicious is that the news bit said he disrobed as he was leaving. I would think that a sexual predator would be far more cunning and far more likely to stay after removing his clothes rather than start to leave and THEN remove his clothes.

Either way, this guy has problems. Big time. And clearly, they need to be addressed.

5

ANOTHER TENNESSEAN EXPOSE' - DISFELLOWSHIPPING

by AngryXJW in

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/05/17731339.shtml?element_id=17731339.

monday, 05/20/02 .

disfellowshipping described as 'worse than death' .

detective

Wow! That's quite a story. It's good to see that the press has taken an interest in the disfellowshipping/shunning process.

The one thing I wished the reporter had done was to ask the 'tower representative if disagreeing with the group's teachings could also be a disfellowshipping offense.

Sometimes you need to spell it out to the worldly types!

(So says this "worldly" type!)

38

X-FILES Final Episode

by Yerusalyim in

jw
friends

ok, i just watched the final episode of the x-files!

who else is disappointed?

does this mean that dana and mulder are christians now?

detective

I'm definitely a little disappointed. Mulder looked like a raving lunatic... the truth this, the truth that...

Ooops, this might not be the place to go on about that.

Anyways, I'm a big X-files fan but this last episode didn't quite work too well, in my opinion. But I was glad to see Nicholas Lea back (krychek) and resurrecting their "deep throat" was kind of fun. Some of the best shows weren't about the conspiracy so it gets a little cumbersome at times although I dug the X-files movie.

The show wasn't the same without David Duchovny, though Dogget grew on me a bit.

I thought the ending was a bit hokey...and a bit hopeless despite what Mulder said.

11

Warning-Samples In The Mail

by Dutchie in

jw
friends

one of my daughters works at citibank in manhattan, and they just passed this memorandum around to everyone.

i'm posting it here to keep all my fellow apostates safe:.

"seven women have died after inhaling a free perfume sample that was mailed to them.

detective

This "reeks" of being an urban legend (bad pun intended).

Unidentified victims, no locations, families willing to keep mum on the loss of a loved one in such a diabolical fashion.

Smells fishy to me.

20

Bowen Disfellowshipping/Daramsala Salt Works

by Francois in

jw
friends

bill bowen's disfellowshipping is very likely to have the same effect as the attack, by british and conscripted indian forces, on gandhi's followers who attempted to close the daramsala salt works.

this event marked the end of the british raj in india - even though the brits stayed in nominal power a couple more years.

the unprincipled and immoral attack upon unarmed demonstrators showed the world the utter lack of ethics and morals of the the british lording it over someone else in their own home.. likewise, the jw attacks, disfellowshipping of people who attempt to protect the most defenseless, the most helpless, the most innocent members of our society, is a carbon-copy of the arrogance of the british raj in india - and at the salt works that fateful day.. these disfellowshippings will demonstrate to the world the complete moral degeneracy of the watchtower bible and tract society.

detective

From this "outsiders" perspective, the reason this is such a problem is not their claim of speaking directly for god. The problem, as I see it, is that this group has no desire to fix the problem. Their only solution at present is to ignore it, deny it, or if they can't get away with hiding it- dumping the offender out into the "world" without warning or consideration for the "worldly" ones who might cross the offenders path. They are more concerned with their allegedly spotless reputation (and their wallets) then they are with looking after innocent victims within and outside of their organization. They demonstrate absolutely no concern in their callous dealings. They fail to acknowledge their obvious inability to put in place procedures that will help protect people from sexual predators.
I understand accuracy saying that you can't hold pedophilia against them as there are deviant criminals in all groups but what you can and should hold against the watchtower is how they deal with it.

As an outsider, I don't really care what those deluded kooks in Brooklyn think of their spiritual mission and being the only true believers. I wouldn't care if they thought they were Santa's special elves.
What I do care about is:
1) They kill people (blood policy,organ transplants-
not to mention ignoring depression, etc.)
2) They do nothing to protect people within their organization from pedophiles.

3)They think so little of those outside their group they will toss
a pedophile out into the "world" or allow a pedophile to come to my door. They don't give a rats ass about anyone except their comically inflated image.

And, on a personal note, I get more than a little pissed off by their self-righteousness and utter disregard for honesty.

63

The best REMAKE of all times....

by LDH in

original artist: the temptations.

remake artist: george michael.

song: papa was a rolling stone.

detective

Since somebody brought up Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry, I'd have to add that Bryan Ferry's covers of "smoke gets in your eyes" and "These foolish Things" are fantastic.

Ry Cooder does a great cover of "Blue Suede Shoes".

One of my favorites: X's cover of "Breathless". (Jerry Lee Lewis sang it previously)

123

The Protect the Children Sham

by HildaBingen in

once upon a time there was an evil antagonist of god named ha satan.

this evildoer thought of many ways to make worldlings oppose god's covenant people.

he finally got a bright idea.

detective

Hilda is doing a good job trying to get people off track with her throwing a morality question into the mix. The dirty old men LUSTING after young pop stars argument is a nice smoke screen.
Lusting...not against the law.
Molestation...against the law.

I'd imagine that this is where Hilda will come up with the very predictable "God's law this" or "Caeser's law that" argument. Don't bother, Hilda.

But...since you do have a problem with the thought of a child being molested within your organization, why not tell us what you feel would be appropriate handling of such allegations.

Here's an example of how you can clearly outline this for us:

I, hilda, think allegations of child molestation should be dealt with in a congregational setting only and secular authorities should not be notified.

Or, you could say:

I, Hilda, think the authorities should be called immediately. I think a congregational judicial commitee should also be formed in conjunction with the ongoing secular probe.

Now, that might clear things up a bit, Hilda.